Natural gas may be found in remote locations both on- and offshore. It is generally expensive and impractical to transport natural gas from its source to a distant processing plant. One solution is to convert the gas on-site to a valuable and easily transportable product. In this way, the value of the natural gas may be increased.
Natural gas may be converted to “synthesis gas” which is a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Synthesis gas may be converted to a solid or liquid synthetic fuel or “synfuel”. The synfuel has less volume per unit mass (i.e. has a greater density) than the natural gas. Accordingly, it is more economical to transport synfuel than a corresponding amount of natural gas.
One disadvantage of the onsite processing of natural gas is that the space available for the processing apparatus is often limited. For example, in situations where the source of natural gas is offshore, a gas rig or a sea vessel is used to support the apparatus for extracting the natural gas. The processing apparatus required to convert natural gas into synfuel must be as compact and as lightweight as possible without sacrificing efficiency, productivity or cost-effectiveness. A further disadvantage is that the remote locations of the processing plants require that the plants are as self-sufficient as possible in the production of power to drive associated apparatus.